Hot Technology Trends for UK Businesses
Social Networking
Consumers have been empowered by the Internet. They’re no longer willing to just be the recipients of marketing messages from brands or the consumers of media content. Now they can talk back to brands, even ignore brand messaging, filter their digital world and get their purchasing advice from digitally networked friends and colleagues.
The growth of social networking has been phenomenal: in February 2009, for example, Nielsen estimated that memberships for micro-blogging service Twitter rose more than 1,300%. In the same month they claimed that Facebook – already the largest online social network – saw growth of 228%.
As the popularity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter booms, enterprises of all types have begun to see the possibilities to better market themselves to potential customers through these services.
Microsoft’s Top 10 social networking Tips for promoting your business
Server Virtualisation
Virtualisation within a business IT environment helps you make more efficient use of existing software and hardware resources. You can use popular virtualisation software to create VMs (virtual machines) that share server hardware resources while functioning as completely separate systems on a network.
Virtualisation helps to reduce your computer server hardware costs, to generate lower energy bills and also allows you to quickly backup or transfer an entire server or client system as a single file.
There are several other benefits to using server consolidation and virtualisation solutions, including operational efficiency, better resource allocation, and enhanced security. You’ll learn more about these and other business advantages of virtualisation after you get in touch with Save9 and ask for more information.
Cloud Computing and SaaS (Software as a Service)
The Cloud Computing model can offer numerous benefits over traditional licensed software approaches.
Easy to Switch Vendors ─ SaaS provides significantly more power and control to the business buyer than traditional software license models. SaaS applications are sold on a subscription basis for a monthly recurring fee. Unsatisfied clients can cancel their subscriptions and transfer to a different application vendor without the purchasing and licensing costs that would be assumed in a licensed software model.
Pay Only for What You Use ─ Often, IT companies will over estimate the actual software utilisation by the end-user: usually to their financial advantage – not yours. For example, an IT reseller may forecast users for a particular application to grow to 20 employees within a year. However, customisation and implementation delays may result in only 15 employees actually using the software a year later. With SaaS, business buyers only pay for the active users of the system–not the forecasted amount.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership ─ One of the historical complaints about licensed software models has been the unknown cost to deploy and operate. With SaaS the total cost to operate the application is fixed. SaaS vendors such as Save9 typically will bundle all of the necessary hardware, software and support services such as implementation, training, help desk, troubleshooting, upgrades, security, and business continuity into a single fee. As a result, the overall total cost of ownership is known in advance.
Time-to-market ─ SaaS vendors takes responsibility for the provisioning of hardware, software and network infrastructure at the data centre. Additionally, SaaS applications typically have limited customisation of features and the user interface. As a result, there are no delays resulting from the need for internal IT staff to perform development, enhancement or deployment of the application.
Easier Upgrades ─ SaaS vendors such as Save9 manage your entire upgrade process. New releases and feature enhancements are deployed centrally to the hosted applications. There are no client applications on end-user desktops to be upgraded. SaaS vendors typically deliver two to four major upgrades per year and several minor updates that the user gets automatically. Users of SaaS-based applications can always be certain that they are using the latest version of the software provided by the vendor.
Voice over IP (VoIP)
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It is also referred to as IP Telephony. It is another way of making phone calls to any telephone number in the world – with the difference of making the calls much cheaper or completely free over the internet. The telephone handset is not always present anymore, because employees can even communicate using software on their computers. With Save9 you may even decide to keep your old phone system – this is possible via our IP telephony gateway product that provides a seamless link between your office PBX phone system and your internet connection.
VoIP has a lot of advantages over traditional phone systems. The main reason why companies are turning to VoIP technology from Save9 are the massive cost savings – no more expensive line rental fees and high call costs. If you have computers with a microphones and speakers, plus a good Internet connection, you can even communicate using VoIP in combination with video conferencing software.
Cisco® TelePresence (Video Conferencing)
To thrive in today’s economy, you have to collaborate with colleagues, partners, and customers around the globe at a moment’s notice. At the same time, you need to conduct your business to enhance the quality of your relationships.
In the past, building and maintaining those critical business relationships meant expensive face-to-face engagement and productivity challenges, as well as mention time spent away from home and family.
Cisco TelePresence™ creates a live, face-to-face communication experience over the network that empowers you to collaborate like never before. Cisco TelePresence helps people meet, share content, create high-quality video recordings and events, consult with experts and deliver powerful personalised services, all using the power of the network for an immersive in-person experience.